Machines for sewing shoes



1957 F. ASHWORTH ET AL 2,780,189

MACHINES FOR SEWING SHOES Filed April 2, 1954 In venzor's Fred/4 sh warzfh v Joseph, 2. [can/1 [ZZZ A United States Patent Office 2,780,1823 Patented Feb. 5, 1957 MACHINES FOR SEWING SHOES Fred Ashworth, Wenham, and Joseph R. Ioannilli, Beverly, Mass., assignors to United Shoe Machinery JCorporation, Flemington, N. J., a corporation of New ersey Application April 2, 1954, Serial No. 420,612

2 Claims. (Cl. 112-46) The present invention relates to machines for sewing welts to stitchdown shoes, and more particularly to improvements in machines similar to those disclosed in prior United States Letters Patent No. 2,684,648, granted July 27, 1954, in the names of the present inventors.

In ordinary stitchdown shoes the outseam is inserted a uniform distance from the crease of the crevice within which the welt is laid, the projecting marginal portions of the upper and sole ordinarily being rough rounded also a uniform distance from the crease in which the welt is laid. The purposes of the machine disclosed in the prior patent, above identified, are to enable sewing a welt to the outflanged upper and marginal sole portions of a lasted stitchdown shoe, said upper and sole portions being formed with a variable width or Baltimore edge to simulate the construction of a Goodyear Welt shoe. In the use of the machine of the patent a departure from the usual preliminary construction is taken and a lasted upper and sole are rough rounded prior to sewing along their projecting marginal portions to provide a relatively wide extension or Baltimore edge along one side of the forepart and a narrow extension both in the shank and at the toe of the shoe. Thereafter, the shoe is presented to a specially constructed outsole stitcher which lays a welt in the crevice between the bulging last supported surface and the outflanged sole supported portion of the upper, and is sewn to the upper and sole with an outseam having a uniform margin throughout its length from the edges of the parts. As a result of the practice disclosed in the prior patent the seam which attaches the welt is spaced at nonuniform distance from the crease of the crevice in which the welt is laid and the edges trimmed a uniform distance from the seam. This practice differs from that ordinarily employed in the construction of stitchdown shoes.

The objects of the present invention are to provide a machine for making stitchdown shoes having outseams inserted nonuniform distances from the crease of the crevices in which the stitchdown welt is laid, as in the prior machine but without the necessity prior to'sewing of rough rounding the projecting marginal portions of the upper and sole to form a nonuniform extension as required in the practice of the prior patent. Stated otherwise, an object of the present invention is to enable sewing a welt to the projecting marginal portions of a stitchdown shoe constructed in an ordinary manner either with an edge of uniform width or with an extension edge of variable width throughout the lengths of the marginal portions and also in either type of construction to insert the o-utseam a nonuniform distance from the crease of the crevice within which the welt is laid. The advantages of the present improvements are that no departure is taken from the usual preliminary construction of a stitchdown shoe and that the operator of the sewing machine rather than the operator of the rough rounding machine is enabled to determine the outline of the seam connecting the welt, so that greater freedom and a most desirable appearance for an extension or Baltimore edge are obtained. After sewing the welt to the projecting marginal portions the edges of the shoe parts are trimmed with a uniform seam margin or otherwise finished, thus avoiding the necessity for the operator of the rough rounding machine to assume the full responsibility of determining the appearance of a Baltimore edge on the shoe and enabling the operator of the sewing machine to modify the appearance.

In accordance with these and other objects the machine of the present invention has besides a curved hook needle, a looper, and the usual lockstitch forming devices, a work support provided with a stitchdown welt guide, a welt edge gage on the work support at the rear of the point of needle operation, a presser foot for clamping the shoe against the work support and a shiftable carrier for the work support, in which a manually operable member, and suitable rotatable cam actuated connections are provided for shifting the carrier transversely of the seam line during sewing operations to press the welt moving along the welt gage into the crevice between the crease of the bulging and projecting marginal portions of the shoe with a variable seam margin along the projecting portions, this variable seam margin being independent of the shape of the edges of the parts.

In the usual sewing machine the work support is mounted rigidly on the machine frame, but in the machine of the prior patent above-identified, the work support is secured to a carrier previously employed for mounting the edge gage in the machine, this carrier being yieldingly operated to produce a uniform seam margin as the rough rounded edge of the shoe parts changes its width. For actuating the carrier of the conventional machine when the edge gage is attached thereto, a cam is provided and rotated by a manually operable member, a spring urging the carrier against the cam. In the present machine, however, the full clamping force of the presser foot is brought to bear against the work support and a spring of ordinary strength is insuificient under all conditions to prevent displacement of the Work support. Accordingly, in the illus trated machine it is preferable to employ a cam grooved concentrically to its outer periphery and to provide a pin on the carrier engaging the groove on the cam to prevent displacement of the carrier therefrom under the force of the presser foot in clamping the shoe on the work support.

These and other features of the invention as hereinafter described and claimed will readily be apparent from the following detailed description and accompanying drawings in which: 1

Fig. 1 is a perspective view looking from the right front of certain of the stitch forming and work engaging devices in the machine embodying the features of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a plan view of a portion of a shoe and a work support in the machine of Fig. 1 shown while the sewing operation is being performed;

Fig. 3 is a detail plan view-of a portion of the carrier for the work support and a connection between the carrier and its actuating cam; and

Fig. 4 is a sectional view of the shoe and work support in the machine, taken along the line IVIV of Fig. 2.

The machine illustrated in the drawings is intended for operation upon a stitchdown shoe comprising an upper 2 and a precut or rough rounded sole member 4 having an edge 5, the upper being conformed to a last 6 and secured in place by stitches 8, best shown in Fig. 2. The sole member 4 is secured to the upper with the upper outflanged into parallel relation to the projecting margin of the sole member 4 to form a seam crease 9. The marginal portions of the shoe are left as they are, rough rounded to provide edges of uniform width or shaped in any other preferred configuration. Usually, an outsole also is employed and it is temporarily attached to the sole member 4 before sewing. To complete the shoe a stitchdown welt is applied to the crevice between the :bulging last supported .and outflanged surfaces of the upper 2, the usual outsole stitching machine being equipped with a fixed work support having a welt guide arranged in advance of the sewing point.

,In the machine of the prior patent the contour of the outseam, corresponding to that indicated at 11 inPigs.

2 and 4 of the present drawings, is determined automatically by the width of the rough rounded edge of the marginal projecting shoe parts. For this purpose in the machine of the prior patent a fixed edge gage is pro- :vided and a shiftable work support is mounted on the machine for movement during sewing operations yieldingly against the bulginglast supported surface of the shoe to press a welt moving through the welt guide into the crease of the crevice between the bulging and projecting marginal portions of the shoe.

Often greater freedom is needed in guiding a seam since it is not always desirable to depend entirely on the rough rounded shape of the marginal projecting portions of the shoe to determine the contour of the outseam, although it is important to have the seam follow generally a uniform distance from the crease formed by the stitches 8 along the marginal portions of the shoe in order to provide a smooth seam line. Accordingly, with the use of a relatively inexpensive modification in the illustrated machine construction it has been found possible to manufacture a shoe with a variable extension or Baltimore edge effect and a smooth seam line without overburdening the operator of the machine by the necessity of exercising close attention or extraordinary skill in directing the shoe during sewing.

In the illustrated machine an outseam 11 connecting a stitchdown welt 12 is shown spaced a relatively short distance A from the crease forming stitches 8 at the toe portion of the shoe, and at a longer distance B along the side of the forepart. The shoe may then be finished by trimming the projecting marginal portions of the shoe into conformity with the line of the outseam 11, providing a uniform seam margin, as indicated by the dotdash line 13 in Fig. 2, or alternatively finished with a nonuniform margin of other suitable configuration. With either method of finishing the edges of the parts a distinctive ornamental appearance is produced providing a wide latitude of effects.

For the purposes of inserting the outseam 11 and for pressing the welt 12 moving along the welt gage firmly into the crevice in the shoe, the machine of the present invention has stitch forming devices including a curved hook needle 14, a needle looper 16 and a thread finger 18 acting in a conventional manner and a work support 20 and a presser foot 22 acting to clamp the projecting marginal portions of a shoe against the work support, the work support fitting within the crevice of the shoe and having a welt guide in the form of a passage 24 entering the side of the work support and emerging in line with a needle receiving opening 26. The welt 12 passing through the welt guide is held firmly within the crevice of the shoe by a welt gage 28 integrally mounted on the work support by a shoulder at the rear of the needle opening 26. The shoe is guided entirely by the Work support, there being no other stationary edge gage for contacting the projecting marginal portions of the upper and sole member.

To enable the contour of the outseam 11 to be varied so that an ornamentally shaped seam may be inserted which is independent, both of the crease in the shoe and also of the rough rounded edge of the shoe parts, the work support 20 is mounted, as in the machine of the prior patent on a shiftable carrier 30 previously employed for mounting an edge gage on the machine, the Wo k s pp r th w l guide and the weltea b i movable therewith as a unit. For this purpose the work support has slots 32 'counterbo'red to admit the heads of a pair of clamp screws 34 threaded at their rearward ends in the carrier 20. The work support 30 is thus mounted for swinging movement, a horizontal stud 36 being secured in a portion of a frame 38 of the machine and passing through the lower end of the carrier. The position of Ithe carrier 30 is at all times determined by the periphery of a rotatable cam 40 engaging a rearward surface on' the carrier, a spring 42 being stretched between a pin 44 on the carrier and a pin 46 on the machine frame to hold the carrier against the cam. Since the presser foot exercisesits full clamping force toward the worksupport there is a tendency for the work support to swing on the stud 36 away from the cam 40, the spring 42 having insufiicient strength to resist this tendency under all conditions.

To prevent disengagement of the carrier 30 from the cam 40, the cam 40 is formed with a groove 48 in its upper surface parallel to the cam periphery and a pin 50 mounted in a rearwardly projecting lug on the carrier 30 engages the groove 48. The pin 50 therefore resists any component of pressure imparted by the presser foot tending to move the work support and carrier forwardly.

To rotate the cam 40 it is secured to the upper end of a vertical shaft 52 rotating in the machine frame, and at the lower end of the shaft is a gear segment 54 meshing with a corresponding segment 56 secured to the upper end of a second shaft 58 rotatable in a bracket 60 carried by the frame 38. At the lower end of the shaft 58 isan arm 62 having a manually operated member 64 for rotating the shaft 58 and the cam 40 through the gear segments 54, 56.

With the construction shown it is possible by swinging the member 64 to vary the contour of the outseam 11 while directing the stitchdown Welt 12 into the crevice of a shoe without respect to the curvature of the projecting edges of the shoe parts. Movement of the manually operated member is readily accomplished by the operator of the machine during sewing and is no more burdensome than the control of the usual edge gage in a similar machine for operating upon Goodyear Welt shoes. Not only is the machine accordingly made more convenient for use with stitchdown shoes of conventional construction but it may be employed to advantage in other types of shoes where it is desired to attach a narrow finished welt in the crevice of a shoe with a seam of distinctive and ornamental contour.

Certain features ofthe invention herein disclosed are covered by a divisional application for United States Letters Patent Serial No. 549,753, filed November 29, 1955, relating to a method of sewing welts to stitchdown shoes.

The nature and scope of the invention having been indicated and a particular embodiment having been described What is claimed is:

1. In a machine for sewing a welt to the outfianged marginal portion of an upper and a sole in a stitchdown shoe supported on a last, said machine having stitch forming devices comprising a curved hook needle and a needle looper, a work support, a stitchdown welt guide and a welt gage mounted on the work support, a presser foot acting to clamp the marginal portions of the shoe and welt against the work support, a shiftable carrier for the work support, on which the work support, the welt guide and the welt gage are mounted and with which they are movable as a unit during sewing operations against the bulging last supported surface of the shoe, the combination with a manually operated memher for shifting the carrier during sewing operations to press a welt moving along the welt gage into the crevice between the bulging and projecting marginal portions of the shoe with a variable seam margin along the projecting shoe portions and connections between the manually operated member and the shiftable carrier comprising a cam engaging the carrier and means for rotating the cam when the carrier is shifted.

2. In a machine for sewing a welt to the outflanged marginal portion of an upper and a sole in a stitchdown shoe supported on a last, said machine having stitch forming devices comprising a curved hook needle and a needle looper, a work support, a stitchdown welt guide and a welt gage mounted on the work support, a presser foot acting to clamp the marginal portions of the shoe and welt against the Work support, a shiftable carrier for the work support with which the work support, the welt guide and the welt gage are movable as a unit during sewing operations against the bulging last supported surface of the shoe, the combination with a hand operated member for shifting the carrier during sewing operations to press a welt moving along the welt gage into the crevice between the bulging and projecting marginal the carrier engaging the groove in the cam to prevent displacement of said carrier from the cam.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,264,112 Cassotta Nov. 25, 1941 2,296,888 Whitaker Sept. 29, 1942 2,407,903 Quinn et a1 Sept. 17, 1946 2,435,193 Ashworth Feb. 3, 1948 2,613,624 Shafier Oct. 14, 1952 2,640,449 Ashworth June 2, 1953 2,684,494 Ashworth et al. July 27, 1954 2,684,648

Ashworth et a1. July'27, 1954 

